MRC Sound Decoders

[Anonymous]

I'm thinking about going dcc soon , and the new Advanced Prodigy seems like a viable candidate for purchase. I was wondering about their sound decoders,
and what your opinions are of these. At half the price of a Soundtrax , they seem very tempting. Will I be sorry ? Is the sound passable ? Thanks.

[cacole]

The ones I have worked with are not very good -- only one whistle (or horn) and one bell, and no way to change them. With SoundTraxx, you can choose between different whistles (or horns) and bells, ring rate, volume, etc. that you can't do with MRC. The new Tsunami is supposed to be even better and offer more choices.

[dave9999]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cacole

The ones I have worked with are not very good -- only one whistle (or horn) and one bell, and no way to change them. With SoundTraxx, you can choose between different whistles (or horns) and bells, ring rate, volume, etc. that you can't do with MRC. The new Tsunami is supposed to be even better and offer more choices.

To add to this...

The horns and whistle are a pre-determined lenght. Example: If you press the
funtion key to sound the horn, you have no control over the length of the blast.

With Soundtraxx, the longer you hold the key, the longer the sound. Dave

[Javern]

i've bought several off Ebay and am happy with them, the rivit counters see the negative of them but for me who just wanted some simple sound and a low cost MRC sound decoders were just the thing

[AntonioFP45]

Rororo

Cacole, Dave, and Javern offer good info here. It's up to you as to WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE!

If you want realistic prototypical sounds, Soundtraxx is the way to go. Simplified generic sounds that will pass, you can go MRC.

Not all, but a lot of the modelers that get Soundtraxx decoders have heard the prototypes in action, repeatedly. For me as a vivid train watcher years back the sounds of turbo charged EMDs, 4 cycle GEs, and the various horns were all locked into my memory. So this is why today, I'm a "nitpicker" about sound. Not all modelers have the opportunity to railfan on a regular basis so some might not be picky about sound at all and are content with generic. Nothing wrong with that.

Just my humble opinion: Purchase one first and later the other. You can compare quality and performance. One thing you should check as I'm not sure: Soundtraxx can be used with Digitrax, Lenz, and other standard DCC controllers. I think MRC is designed for their own system. I MAY BE WRONG, so please don't hold me to this. Do your research!

God Bless!

[Anonymous]

I will be waiting for the Tsunami to make it's debut, and hope the price point drops some.Wishfull thinking huh !

[AntonioFP45]

Rororo,

You can save some money by going to www.LitchfieldStation.com or Tony's Train Xchange and Pre-order the Tsunami. Will save you quite a few dollars. I believe some of the other DCC specialists are offering the same discounted price for pre-orders.[;)]

I sure hope that all of the hype that we've been reading about the sound dynamics and adjustable features will be worth the wait as this decoder was slated for release back in 2003! [:p] Of course, the MTH lawsuit slammed everything back [V][B)]

Would be good if Soundtraxx would post some "Sound Samples" from the Tsunami on its website. The current samples are from previous decoders.

[:D]

[nfmisso]

To add to FP45's comments, you may have second thoughts if you run a model equipped with Soundtraxx® of QSI®, as you will find that the MRC (and the ones that Trix uses) decoders are not in the same league as far a realistic sounds.